A new review of Argo:
The film occupies a difficult genre – it is not fiction nor is it historical fiction. It is fiction that is derived from events that happened in history. It does not need to be faithful to actual facts, and yet against the historical facts it will be judged.
This is a difficult path to walk.
I’ll admit that I struggle to know what to say about such movies. In some ways, they are a cheat. They have a story pre-made that resonates with us all; after all the story is based on events that happened in history and, for one reason or another, captivated us all.
On the other hand, these movies, invariably criticized for historical inaccuracies, are stories of fiction. They are not documentaries, nor historical re-enactments. They are supposed to be a fictional tale, and yet they feel like they are not.
I am not sure this sort of movie should be judged among the other fictional stories that are nominated for Best Picture. Like Animated Feature, they are a different sort of tale, with different expectations and different advantages. Having said that, I do not know how one would separate out this sort of tale from the rest…
However, this is the landscape in which we live.
And so Argo.
Oscars in Black and White 